(VIDA _stands with her eyes on the ground, silent, motionless._ LADY JOHN, _with a nervous glance at her watch and a gesture of extreme perturbation, goes hurriedly out._ VIDA _shuts the door. She comes slowly back, sits down and covers her face with her hands. She rises and begins to walk up and down, obviously trying to master her agitation. Enter_ GEOFFREY STONOR.) MISS L. Well, have they primed you? Have you got your lesson (_with a little broken laugh_) _by heart_ at last? STONOR (_looking at her from immeasurable distance_). I am not sure I understand you. (_Pause._) However unpropitious your mood may be--I shall discharge my errand. (_Pause. Her silence irritates him._) I have promised to offer you what I believe is called "amends." MISS L. (_quickly_). You've come to realise, then--after all these years--that you owed me something? STONOR (_on the brink of protest, checks himself_). I am not here to deny it. MISS L. (_fiercely_). Pay, then--_pay_. STONOR (_a moment's dread as he looks at her, his lips set. Then stonily_). I have promised that, if you exact it, I will. MISS L. Ah! If I insist you'll "make it all good"! (_Quite low._) Then don't you know you must pay me in kind? STONOR. What do you mean? MISS L. Give me back what you took from me: my old faith. Give me that. STONOR. Oh, if you mean to make phrases---- (_A gesture of scant patience._) MISS L. (_going closer_). Or give me back mere kindness--or even tolerance. Oh, I don't mean _your_ tolerance! Give me back the power to think fairly of my brothers--not as mockers--thieves. STONOR. I have not mocked you. And I have asked you---- MISS L. Something you knew I should refuse! Or (_her eyes blaze_) did you dare to be afraid I wouldn't? STONOR. I suppose, if we set our teeth, we could---- MISS L. I couldn't--not even if I set my teeth. And you wouldn't dream of asking me, if you thought there was the smallest chance. STONOR. I can do no more than make you an offer of such reparation as is in my power. If you don't accept it---- (_He turns with an air of "That's done."_) MISS L. Accept it? No!... Go away and live in debt! Pay and pay and pay--and find yourself still in debt!--for a thing you'll never be able to give me back. (_Lower._) And when you come to die, say to yourself, "I paid all creditors but one." STONOR. I'm rather tired, you know, of this talk of debt. If I hear that you persist in it I shall have to---- MISS L. What? (_She faces him._) STONOR. No. I'll keep to my resolution. (_Turning to the door._) MISS L. (_intercepting him_). What resolution? STONOR. I came here, under considerable pressure, to speak of the future--not to re-open the past. MISS L. The Future and the Past are one. STONOR. You talk as if that old madness was mine alone. It is the woman's way.